It All Started at the Mall
by Strix Moonwing
Summary: After being questioned by his fellow campers, Duncan reluctantly reveals the story behind why he's afraid of Celine Dion standees. Be prepared for escaping monkeys, clueless older brothers,and a mischievous six-year old delinquent. Two-shot
1. Of Monkeys, Ice Cream, and Princesses!

**Author's Note: Well, after a couple years of hiatus, I'm finally getting back into the writing of fanfiction. I've done a little writing along with my artwork on Deviantart and rediscovered my passion for it. However, I'm going to start off small. This is just a two-shot (only two chapters long) about why Duncan is afraid of Celine Dion music store standees. Will include a couple new characters like Duncan brothers (who are mentioned, though not by name, in the show).**

* * *

"Haha, excuzee me?" Cody asked, holding a hand to his ear and letting out a chuckle after hearing what Duncan's ultimate fear was. "I didn't quite get that."

That was a lie; every one of the fellow Total Drama Island campers had heard the confession loud and clear. Duncan, the so called "Bad Boy", juvenile delinquent of the show was afraid of Celine Dion music store standees! Even Sadie's and Lindsay's phobias of having bad hair cuts were higher on the fear meter than that!

"Dude, did you say Celine Dion music store standees?" Trent didn't bother to hide the amused smirk on his face. Could this be for real? There was no way someone like Duncan could be afraid of some cardboard cutouts.

However, the fact that Duncan was hiding his face behind his hands in pure terror begged to differ.

"Whoa, I don't believe it." Gwen said trying to hold back a laugh.

"Shut up!" Duncan growled, giving each person the evil eye. Jeez, did they have to make sure a big deal out of it? "I can still kick all your butts, you know."

"Relax, dude," Geoff said with a snicker. "It's just weird is all, you know."

"Is there any particular reason why you're scared of that?" Courtney curiously asked. "I mean, your slightly irrational fear has to stem from somewhere."

Duncan folded his arms over his chest and gave the CIT a glare. "Don't want to talk about it." Wrong thing to say.

"Ha! There is a reason!" The brunette triumphantly proclaimed, pointing a finger at him. Now everyone seemed curious.

"Ohh, I wanna hear Doug's story!" Lindsay squealed and clapped her hands together in girlish excitement, oblivious to the fact that she had gotten his name wrong…again.

"This I gotta hear." Gwen said with a smirk as she leaned closer to hear what the bad boy had to say.

"You and me both." Agreed Trent and a chorus of voices joined in after him.

"Let's hear it, man!"

"Come on!"

"Pretty please?"

Duncan finally had to give in. "Okay, enough!" Duncan yelled, raising his hands for them to pipe down. He was quickly rewarded with a campfire surrounded by silence. He lowered his arms and sighed. "Okay, you guys win. I'll tell you what happened."

Duncan waited until the cheering, led by Geoff, died down before he began to tell the story to his fellow campers.

"Okay, it all started when I was about six," Duncan began, glancing around. From what he saw, he had everyone complete attention, including Courtney's. He liked that…a lot. "My pet dog had just run away so my parents decided to take me and my brother to the mall to get me a new pet…"

* * *

"How about a nice goldfish?"

Duncan stared at the small goldfish in the bowl that his mother had thrust in front of his face. The fish seemed to have a bored expression upon its orange face that was identical to that of Duncan's.

"I don't want a goldfish." The six year old boy with short, spiky black hair covered by a green beanie and sky blue eyes declared.

"But goldfish are wonderful pets! They're clean, quiet, and…"

"They die in about two weeks…tops!" Derek, Duncan's older brother by nine years interrupted. He was standing by the rodent section of the pet store and looking down into a cage that held a ferret.

"I don't want a goldfish!" Duncan repeated. He defiantly folded his arms over the skull on the black sweater he was wearing. "They're boring! I want a dog like Petey!"

"We're not getting another dog." Duncan's father sternly cut in. "Especially not after I accidentally ran over Pe…" At that moment, he caught sight of his wife and second eldest son frantically making stopping hand gestures behind Duncan, who was curiously staring up at his father.

"Ran over what, Dad?" Duncan innocently asked.

"Uhhhh…ran over Petey's toys! That's right! Having dogs mean having dog toys in the driveway! Nope, we're getting a pet that won't make a mess…like a goldfish!" He placed the goldfish bowl into Duncan's hands.

The six year old glared at it and promptly tossed it aside. It unknowingly fell into a large tank with a sign in front of it that read "RARE BUT 100% REAL BABY FRESH WATER SHARKS!" The family ignored the munching noises coming from behind them as they walked further into the pet store.

"How about a kitty cat?" His mother asked.

"No." Duncan said.

"A pretty birdy?"

"No."

"A cute little bunny?"

"Mom!" Duncan cried, throwing his small arms in the air and stomping his foot in annoyance. "You're picking all the girly, cute stuff!"

"Haha, then that shouldn't be a problem for you, twerp." Derek laughed and reached down to pinch his little brother's cheek. "Who's a cute, little momma's boy? Dunky is! Dunk-OW! MOM! DUNCAN BIT ME!"

"Boys, behave this instant!" their father yelled, putting his hands on his sides as he glared at the two bickering siblings. "I don't want people thinking that the head of police is raising a pair of juvenile delinquents!"

"Oh, one of us is juvenile alright!" Derek retorted, holding his bitten finger and giving his younger sibling a glare.

Duncan just stuck his tongue our and blew a raspberry. When he had his back turned, Derek smirked and gave Duncan a swift kick to the behind.

"Aahh!" Duncan let out a cry of pain as the kick pushed him forward and knocked him head first into one of the animal cages. As he rubbed his aching head, he could hear his mother yelling at his older brother.

"Stop bullying your little brother! Don't you know that young children are prone to repeating acts of violence when they're older? DO WANT YOUR BABY BROTHER TO BE A BULLY?"

"Jeez, relax mom! We're just playing around! No damage done."

Duncan ignored the rest of the yell-fest and looked through the bars of the cage that he had slammed into. Inside was a large monkey that was about Duncan's size. He smiled at it.

"Cool! I want a monkey!" Honestly, what future criminal doesn't want a monkey sidekick to help him commit acts of mischief?

"Sorry, little boy, but he's already taken!" A loud feminine voice proclaimed. Duncan turned around and saw a large, heavily obese woman standing behind him.

"Whoa…" Duncan had no idea people could get that fat. How could she fit through the doorway? Did she ever get stuck on the toilet seat? Was she really a giant blob monster? Or maybe she was clown. She certainly had enough makeup on her face to be one.

"Move out of the way!" The woman rudely pushed the staring Duncan aside and leaned forward to take a closer look at the monkey. The blob in a dress let out a high-pitched squeal of delight that probably made a couple of the pet store puppies deaf and pressed her giant, squash-like face against the bars of the cages.

"Ohhhh! He's such a darling! What an absolute sweety! I can't wait to take him home with me!" This ended in another squeal. "He'll look absolutely, positively adorable in the little dresses I bought for him! Such a cutesy, wusy, little thing!"

With hands covering his ears, the little future delinquent instantly felt pity for the poor creature in front of him….and it wasn't the creature waving her whale sized butt in his face.

"I'm going to hug you and give you kisses every night! You're going to be my sweet, little baby!" The pig in a dress trying to pass as a woman continued to ramble. Duncan turned, beginning to become sick with the entire scene. Okay so a monkey was out, but maybe they had boa constrictor instead. An image of himself strolling around the school playground with a giant, man-eating snake around the neck floated into his mind and caused the six year old to smile. That could definitely work for him.

Duncan quickly turned; hopefully, if he got the reptile aisle before his parents did and they'd fall for the scene of him looking at the snake cage with teary eyes and a sad face routine. Then something grabbed his sweater.

The six year old turned his head and saw a pair of monkey hands grabbing his sweater and holding him back. The monkey from the cage was staring at him.

Duncan frowned and tugged his sweater. "Let go." He tugged harder but the monkey didn't let go.

With one hairy hand still holding Duncan in place, the monkey raised his other hand and pointed at the lock. Then the monkey pointed at himself. Then he pointed at the fat, squealing lady who was talking to one of the pet workers. Then back at the lock again.

It suddenly clicked to Duncan.

"You want out don't you?"

The monkey let go of Duncan and started a little jig in its cage. To Duncan, it appeared to scream 'Success! Sweet success!'

Duncan pointed a backwards thumb at the fat lady. "I get it. You don't want to go with that fatso lady."

The monkey made a gagging sound and pantomimed what seemed to be him hanging himself. Duncan chuckled as he ran over and started to toy with the lock.

"I know how you feel. I wouldn't want to go home and hear that squealing every night either. My brother's snoring is bad enough." The lock made a loud click and the cage door cracked open. "There you go buddy!"

The monkey let out a wide grin, high-fived Duncan, happily jumped out of the cage and disappeared down the aisles of the pet store. Duncan stood next to the empty cage with a big smile on his face.

"Wow, breaking the rules was actually kind of fun. I should do it more often." Duncan smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. "Pheesh, I don't see why mom and dad make such a big deal about following the rules. Nothing bad happened at all!"

"HEY! WHO LET ALL THE ANIMALS OUT OF THE CAGES?" the yell of a worker was drowned out by a chorus of squawks, hisses, growls, and roars through the pet store.

Duncan's eyes widened in surprise. "Oops."

Next thing Duncan knew, his mother, father, and brother all ran by, followed by a small stampede of loose pets. Duncan was hauled up by the collar into his father's arms as they ran out of the pet store, the wild screeches of animals behind them.

"I DIDN'T TO IT!" Derek yelled, running after his parents and dazed little brother.

* * *

"You let all the animals out at the pet store!" Courtney shrieked in shocked disapproval, interrupting Duncan's story.

"You're my hero man!" DJ had been moved to tears by the description of Duncan rescuing a pet monkey and was sobbing into a tissue. Bridgette was tearing up beside him.

Cody held up a finger and stated loudly over DJ's crying, "Well, actually, it was the monkey that let all the animals out."

"At least someone's listening to the story, isn't that right, Princess?" smirked Duncan, shooting the brunette CIT a smug look.

Courtney rolled her eyes and clenched her fists. "That's not the point! Unleashing the criminal is still bad enough and what does any of this have to do with you having an irrational fear of Celine Dion music store standees!" she screeched, throwing her arms up in the air.

"For once, I agree with Courtney." Gwen reluctantly admitted, giving Courtney an annoyed sideways glance and shrugging her shoulders. "It's sweet that you saved a monkey from a crappy life of dresses and constant squealing, but I don't really see the connection."

"I'm getting there." Duncan growled, beginning to grow agitated with the interruptions. "Do you guys want to hear the story or not? Because, trust me, I'll quit at any time." It wasn't as if he had wanted to tell the story in the first place.

"No, go on, bro! We'll chill." Geoff urged while the majority of the campers nodded in agreement. Courtney rolled her eyes but dutifully remained silent.

"Okay, so after the whole pet store fiasco, the family and I went off to shop somewhere else in the mall." Duncan rested his chin on his hands and let out a bored sigh. "While my Pops and Ma went looking for a new television…"

"What happened to your old one?" Bridgette asked.

(Flashback)

_Six year old Duncan stood in between his two older brothers, Derek, and Malcolm, the oldest at eighteen and a junior police officer, in the middle of a semi-destroyed living room that, for some odd reason, had a live bull moose grazing on the carpet, a teenage couple making out on the stairway, and a small fire burning in a trash can…all evidence that some out-of-control party had taken place and had ended in disaster._

"_Mom and Dad must __**never**__ know about this!" Malcolm declared._

_The three brothers could only stare in horror as the Bull Moose casually walked over to the living room television and smashed the screen in with one of its hooves._

"_Ah, shit." _

(End of Flashback)

"….I'd rather not talk about it." Duncan replied, blinking to shake off the weird flashback. What the hell had happened at that party anyway?

"As I was saying, while they were shopping for a new television, as usual, I was stuck tagging along with my brother, Derek…"

* * *

"Can I help you?" a teenage girl with short red hair, in a uniformed apron curtly asked from behind the mall ice cream parlor.

"Why yes," Derek said, flashing a flirtatious grin at the pretty employee. "I was wondering if you happened to have a phone number on you." Derek leaned across the counter and wriggled his eyebrows. "I happened to have lost mine."

Suddenly, Derek felt somebody roughly pulling on his shirt and heard a high-pitched voice whine loudly.

"Tell her I want chocolate!" Duncan yelled, continuing to yank at his brother's shirt. He let out a whine when Derek's hand pushed on his face, knocking him backwards.

"Shove off, Dunk," Derek heatedly hissed in a low voice. "Can't you see I'm busy here?"

"Gimme some ice cream before the lady blows you off!"

"What makes you think she's going to blow me off, you little brat?"

"….If I answer that truthfully, will I still get ice cream?"

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Derek growled, pointing at Duncan to go back to their table. Duncan furrowed his brow in anger, clenched his teeth, and stomped off.

Once his brother had left, Derek turned back to the pretty employee and smiled. "As I was saying…." He glanced down at the name tag. "Artemis. Cool name. I like my girls exotic. You American?"

"First off, the name's Arts. Call me my other title again and I'll have no choice but beat your head in with scooper. Second, I'm so not interested. " The redhead said in a monotone voice while examining her fingernails. She glanced up briefly and said, "Hey, wasn't there like a midget you screaming for chocolate a second ago?"

Derek scowled. "That's just my little brother. He's at that table." He pointed a thumb over his shoulder.

"You mean that obviously empty one?" Arts said.

"Yes, I mean that obviously empty one." Derek repeated. It took a second or two for the thought to fully register before Derek threw up his hands and let a hysterical yell. "EMPTY?" He whirled around and saw that the table was…surprise, surprise…empty. No six year old future delinquent in sight.

"Duncan!" Derek yelled, grasping the sides of his face in nervous worry. "No, no, no…" he looked under the table and around the table area. "Come on Duncan! This isn't funny! You want ice cream? I'll get you ice cream!"

The red-haired girl watched the scene with a half bored expression on her face. "Let me guess, you lost the kid."

Derek ran back to the register and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Artemis!"

An icy glare. "It's Arts."

"Whatever! You've got to help me find my little brother!"

She raised a skeptic brow and crossed her arms. "And why would I do that?"

"You work here! You're supposed to help the customers!"

Arts scoffed and waved her ice cream scooper in Derek's face. "Hello, do you see a security badge on my apron? You point at a flavor and I scoop." She jabbed the scooper into carton of strawberry ice cream to make a point. "That's my service!"

"Look," Derek held out his palms in a pleading gesture. "You have no idea who my parents are! If they find out that I lost Duncan…"

"Let me guess, they'll ground you until you're nineteen, keep you away from your low-brow buddies and non-existent fangirls, deprive you from this hellhole you call a mall?" Arts guessed in sarcastic tones.

"No, he'll probably lock up me for two nights in the city prison and put me on guard duty. He's the head officer there." Derek explained. "He sometimes does it to Duncan for time out."

Arts actually showed signs of being surprised. "Whoa, your dad has some discipline issues."

"Yeah, but strangely, I think Duncan actually_ likes_ timeout in prison."

* * *

The campers stared Duncan with weird expressions of shock and disbelief stretched out across their faces.

"Your dad put you in prison…._as time out?_" squeaked Bridgette, appalled. What kind child life did Duncan have?

Duncan grinned. "Yeah so? He took me to work with him sometimes. I kind of liked it. The guy in the next cell was an awesome babysitter! I learned everything I know from him."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Courtney drily said. "I guess he also taught you to runaway from your older siblings as well?"

The delinquent shrugged. "Well, yeah, especially if they're chasing after you with a chainsaw trying to slice you to pieces for stealing their girlfriend."

Once again, the casual comment earned him another round of bewildered stares.

Duncan rolled his eyes at his campmate's horrified expressions. "Look, I was six and I was mad. Do you really think I'd actually listen to my older brother and stay put to watch him flirt away with girls all day? Little kids always wander off on their own when they're bored."

Courtney crossed her arms and said in a snooty voice, "Well, I didn't. I was a good girl when I was six."

Duncan smirked. "Oh really?"

The brunette glared and fumed. "Yes really!"

"Quit flirting and get back to the story." LeShawna demanded earning a deadly glare from Courtney. Nobody dared interrupted the CIT from making a point!

"Fine, fine, now where was I?" Duncan pondered for a second before snapping his fingers. "Oh, yeah- at the ice cream parlor. Okay, so I leave my brother with the drop-dead gorgeous babe in apron and go off to find something to preoccupy myself with."

"How did you do that?" questioned Gwen, a smirk spreading across her face as she guessed the answer.

Duncan returned the smirk with a wicked grin of his own.

"How do you think? Causing trouble!"

* * *

There were many advantages to being only about three feet tall. One of them was that it was easy to slip away unnoticed, especially in a crowd of hundreds of towering people. Nobody noticed Duncan wandering through the heart of the crowd and, if they did, they just assumed by the big smile on his face that the nearest person to him was one of his parents. They didn't realize that a little six year old was wandering around a giant supermall, all by his self and with evil, mischievous intentions in mind.

The first store that Duncan stopped at was a toy store. The big bright, colorful letters and the happy music coming from the shop instantly caught the six-year old's attention.

Duncan jumped- not skipped because, six years old or not, boys never skip- over to the large glass panel of the store and peered within the fairy-tale-ish depths. The whole place was filled with toys and kid merchandise of all shapes and sizes. Duncan smiled particularly at the dinosaur toys in one corner. He loved dinosaurs!

He stared at the little dino figures with a longing look in his blue eyes. Christmas was such a long way off and he his birthday had already passed. Duncan stared at the figures some more.

"Those toys are awfully small." Duncan remarked out loud. It was true. They were inexpensive little plastic figures that were all piled in a large barrel. Duncan looked around to make sure that no one was watching before he ran inside.

"I bet no one would notice if I just took one!" he declared. There were plenty of figures. Surely, no one would miss just one toy out of hundreds?

Duncan was about make a grab for a small T-Rex toy when something else caught his eye.

More specifically- _someone_

"What do you think you're doing?"

Hand only inches away from one of the dinosaur figures, Duncan turned, eyes narrowed, to tell whoever was speaking that it was none of their business. Then his blue eyes widened and he had to bite back a loud laugh.

Before him was a girl, but not just any girl…

She was a princess!

The girl looked around Duncan's age and had long brown hair tied with a purple bow and tan skin with freckles across her noise. She was also wearing a silver tiara on her head and had on a pretty purple fairy-tale like dress. To Duncan, it just looked ridiculous.

Hands on her hips, the girl glared her dark eyes at the boy reaching into the dinosaur barrel.

"Well? What are you doing?" She asked again in snobbish tones.

"Are you a princess?" Duncan asked, withdrawing his hand from the barrel to hold against his mouth to hide a giggle. Why was this girl all was dressed up?

The girl looked surprised. "No, but I will be for Halloween!" That explained it. She smiled and did a little twirl. "Like my dress?"

Duncan stared the purple attire. "It looks stupid. It'll look better with skulls or spiders on it."

The girl made a face. "Ew, that's disgusting! Princesses don't have yucky stuff like that on their dresses."

"Well they'd be a lot cooler if they did." Duncan said with a big Cheshire grin on his face. For some reason he felt a particular tingle of delight in annoying this girl. Maybe it was because of the funny way her face scrunched up with disgust. "Besides, if princesses can kiss gross stuff like frogs then why can't they wear it?"

The girl wrinkled her freckled noise and patted her dress. "Because," she said in a know-it-all tone that really annoyed Duncan, "princesses only kiss yucky stuff like frogs when they turn into princes after!"

An evil idea emerged from the depths of Duncan's dark, immature mind.

"Oh really?" he asked, grin turning quite wicked.

"Yes, really!" the girl snapped.

* * *

"This story sounds awfully familiar…" Geoff said.

"SHUT UP!" everyone hushed.

* * *

"Well, then if princesses only kiss gross stuff to get a prince, then why don't you kiss me and see if I'll turn into a prince?" Duncan got on all fours and started to ribit like a frog. "See? I'm as gross as a frog! Ribit! Ribit! Ribit!"

Still croaking, Duncan puckered his lips at the girl who let out a terrified shriek.

"EW! Get away from me!"

Laughing, Duncan hopped after her as she ran around the store, shrieking.

"Honey, what are you yelling about?" A woman, supposedly the girl's mother, asked when she saw her daughter running around the toy aisles, screaming as loud as a dying banshee. The girl ran to her mother and hid behind her legs.

"There's a gross meanie boy trying to kiss me!" the girl whined and pointed a tattle-telling finger at the hopping boy in the black skull sweater.

"Awwww, isn't that sweet. My little girl has a first crush!"

"MOM! HE'S GOING TO GIVE ME COOTIES AND WARTS!"

"Ribit! Ribit! Ribit! Wait for me princess! Ribit! Ribit!" Duncan croaked, greatly enjoying himself. His next 'ribit' died mid-croak when he spotted the girl's mother. The little delinquent slid to a halt.

The girl's mother leaned down, ignoring her daughter's protesting, and fixed Duncan with a friendly smile. "Why, hello there sweetie. Don't you make a cute little froggy!"

"He's not cute, he's gross!" the girl cried from behind her mother's legs.

"Yeah, I'm not cute, I'm gross!" Duncan, surprisingly, agreed, giving the girl a toothy smile. The bratty brunette stuck her tongue out at him.

"Well, mister froggy, where are your parents at? I'd love to meet them and arrange a play date." The mother said. The girl looked horrified at such a notion.

The grin fell from Duncan's face. His instincts told him that revealing that he was actually by himself would not be a good move. Adults tend to be able to find other adults very quickly, and Duncan was sure that his mom and dad would not be happy to see him hopping around playing "Frog Prince". Duncan decided to do what all criminals know by nature to do when they're in a tight situation.

"Uhhh…I gotta go! Seeya princess!" Jumping back on two legs, Duncan shot off towards the store exit. Behind him, he heard a loud shriek.

"STOP CALLING ME PRINCESS!"

"Hush, Courtney, not so loud!"

_**(Meanwhile, in another part of the mall…)**_

"DUNCAN!"

"Kid…"

"Come here Dunk!"

"Here kiddy kid…"

"You know, you can at least call him by his name." Derek told the apron-clan redhead walking beside him. "There are millions of kids in here. How's my brother supposed to know we're looking for him?"

"That's the point, numbskull." Arts said. She let out a slightly annoyed sigh at the confused expression on the idiot's face. At times like this, she wished she had better things to do during her lunch break- like change out of her ridiculous uniform.

Holding back an eye roll and another sigh, Arts placed her a hand on her hip and jammed her ice cream scooper at Derek. "Look…." She realized that she really didn't know this guy's name.

"Derek." Derek said. He leaned forward and flashed Arts a cocky grin, "Though you can call me 'sweetheart'." He let out a yelp of pain when Arts hit him on the forehead with the ice cream scooper.

"Derek," Art continued, purposely ignoring Derek's complaints. "I have a niece named Gwen who's about the same age as your brother, and I've babysat her enough times to know how these things work." She did a fancy twirl with the metal scooper and held it out like a cane. "Lesson number one: when a little kid runs away then they obviously don't want to be found," she leaned forward towards Derek with a smirk on her face, "especially by their rather obnoxious older brothers. Your yelling will send him running off."

Derek tried to look angry, but the blush on his face at having a rather hot, yet annoying, girl being this close to him ruined the effect. "Well, then Miss. Babysitter, what do you suggest we do?" He got another bonk in the forehead.

"Think like a six year old- which I don't think will be quite difficult for you." Arts humorlessly said. "What would a six year old be after running away?"

"I don't like thinking about what Duncan would do."

"I agree, considering he has you as role model."

"Oh, hardy har har." Derek scowled. "I'll have you know I'm a great model for my little brother. I'm strong!" He flexed his nonexistent muscles. "Tough!" He pulled off an angry face. "And not to mention, devilishly handsome." He added, flirtatiously wiggling his eyebrows at Arts.

Arts bonked him on the head again and smirked. "I noticed you failed to mention 'intelligent'."

Derek rubbed his reddening forehead and chuckled. "Well, I leave the smart stuff to my older brother, Malcolm. He taught Duncan and me how to make fake blood to scare kindergarteners for Halloween! It was hilarious! Hahah!"

"Oh yes, you two make excellent role models for little kids." Arts said, rolling her dark eyes, though the smile remained on her face. Suddenly she spotted something. "Hey, does your brother ever dig in the trash?"

"Probably. It could be one of the reasons he smells all the time." Derek blinked. "Why do you ask?"

Arts pointed a finger at one of the mall's trash cans. It was shaking and moving back and forth as if something…or someone….was moving around inside it.

"DUNCAN!" Derek rushed over the garbage can with a big smile on his face. "Come here little bro!" He reached into the garbage can and pulled out a confused looking monkey. The smile fell off his face. "Why aren't you Duncan?"

"It's probably one of the animals that got loose from the pet store earlier." Arts said.

Derek scowled. "You mean the animals that Duncan set loose! The little criminal."

That actually got Arts smiling as she scratched the monkey under the chin. "Really? Well, props for him. Setting prisoner animals free? Sounds like my kind of criminal."

"Yeah, I'm a criminal too! I stole and wrecked my neighbors' bikes!"

"…and so not my kind of criminal."

Before Derek could make an even bigger idiot of himself in front of Arts, his cell phone rang. He visibly winced in fear when he realized who was calling. "Uhh…hey, Mom. Hey, Dad. What's up?" A look of panic spread across Derek's face. "Oh, you're ready to leave now? Meet at the exit in five minutes? Okay bye." Derek had on the expression of one going to execution. "I'm so dead. There's no way we can find my brother in five minutes! We need more time!"

Arts bit her lip and looked down at the monkey in her arms. Suddenly, inspiration hit.

"I think I have an idea."

* * *

**The second installment will probably be up by tomorrow! Everyone have a wonderful Christmas Eve and Happy Holidays!**


	2. Invasion of the evil Dion standees

"Well, there you boys are! We've been waiting for over twenty minutes and…Derek Winters Scott, what in the world is your brother wearing?" Duncan's mother asked, eyeing her two youngest sons with as much suspicion as she used for caught criminals.

"Oh, this?" Derek gestured towards the oversized blue hoodie that "Duncan" was wearing. It was literally three times his size and covered up every part of his body. "Oh, just a little present I bought for my favorite little brother!" With an oversized smile on his face, he picked up his 'brother' and gave him a big hug.

His mother's suspicions spiked to an alarming level.

"When have you ever bought Duncan a gift?" questioned his mother.

"Uhhh…since I realized how…er," A brown tail slid out from under the hoodie. Derek quickly stuffed it back into the hoodie and out of sight before his mom could notice. "Ahh…rewarding being a big brother could be!"

Before their mother could question them further, her husband cut in. "Honey, we can interrogate those two later. Let's get home so we can hook up the new television."

Duncan's mother sighed and turned back to Derek and 'Duncan' with a frown on her face. "Don't think this talk is over, young man. You two go get in the car and no arguing."

Derek looked down at the hoodied bundle in his arm. When his parents' back was turned, the monkey tail fell down again. He breathed a weary sigh.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that, Mom."

* * *

**_(Back at mall…)_**

As soon as he escaped the toy store, Duncan ran across the walkway and into the store opposite of the toy store. He was still afraid that the princess girl's mother might try and find him. The store he headed into was the music store.

Outside, at the music store entrance, two employees were engaged in a conversation next to a Celine Dion standee, completely ignoring the six year old walking in.

"So what's with all the Celine Dion standees in the closet, eh?" Asked one employee, "I mean, I know her new song is out- the one with the 'Titanic' and the 'my heart' and all that eh- but shou'nt one be enough?"

"Well, Carl, we did have only one Celine Dion standee, but some weirdo has been stealing all the Celine Dion standees we've been putting out so we've had to order more."

"Who'd want to steal multiple Celine Dion standees, eh?"

_**(In some house in Ontario, Canada…)**_

"Why yes, Mrs. Dion, I'd be honored to take you to Homecoming." A fifteen year old, acne-covered Chris MaClean said, flashing the Celine Dion standee in his arms a smile. His room was filled with Celine Dion standees- all dressed up like they were going to a dance.

Suddenly a woman's voice scratched the air.

"Christopher! For the last time, stop playing with your toys and go finish your chores!"

"Mom! I'm trying to create some actual memorable teenage memories!" Chris whined, childishly stomping his foot.

"….Is it working, dear?"

"…..No." came the future host's tearful reply.

_**(Back at the Mall…)**_

"Ever since the _Titanic _came out, people have been clawing themselves to get her new song." Carl's fellow coworker named Joe said. "We just got a whole truckload of her CDs in for the release tomorrow."

"Is that why we're closing earlier, eh?" Carl asked as he started to pull down the metal sheet over the entrance.

"Yep, all the Celine Dion stuff is set up for the big opening tomorrow! The CDs are out, the speakers are ready to start playing her music, and the standees are all in the closet." Joe said as he locked up the metal sheet. "Everything's going to go perfect tomorrow." Suddenly a thought hit him. "Yeah, you did make sure that nobody was still in the store, right?"

"Eh, I think so."

"Okay, let's go make fun of the janitor!"

"Hot dog!"

Meanwhile, inside the store, Duncan was oblivious to the fact that he was the only one in the store. At this moment, he was too busy pretending to play an air guitar as he watched a cool punk star on the television do the same. Duncan thought the green mohawk and the piercings on the punk looked cool. Maybe he should get one! That would be awesome!

Suddenly, at the exact moment Joe and Carl pulled down the metal sheet, the entire store went dark and the television shut off.

"Hey! What happened to the lights?" Duncan cried, his large blue eyes blinking the darkness. His voice seemed to echo through the empty store. "Hello?" he loudly called out.

Only silence answered him.

A cold shiver of fear went through him. He pulled his bright green hat down tightly over his head and whimpered.

Where was everyone?

_**(Outside the music store)**_

"So did they buy it?" Arts asked, speaking into her cell phone as she walked down the mall corridor. The crowds were beginning to dim as the evening stretched and people were starting to head home.

"So far." Derek answered miles away in his room; he was on the floor, leaning against the door and listening to his parents' voices coming from downstairs. "They're busy trying to set up the new television so I think we're safe for another hour or two."

"Where's the monkey brother?"

"Malcolm's helping me watch it."

On the other side of his room, Derek's and Duncan's older brother was busy trying to wrestling the vicious monkey to the ground.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU LOST DUNCAN! HE'S SIX YEARS OLD!" Malcolm, unlike his other two brothers, being a junior police officer, actually tried to be a good example for his younger siblings. However, he somehow always got dragged into their fiascos anyway.

"Relax, I'm taking care of it." Derek replied in a casual manner.

"OH, BY STEALING A MONKEY AND LYING TO MOM AND DAD?" Malcolm scoffed, furrowing his single brow as he caught the monkey in a headlock.

"The monkey had already escaped. I just provided the getaway car."

"If Dad finds out about this and cuts me off the force, I swear, I'm going to…" The blonde threatened before being interrupted by Arts.

"Can we focus here?" the redhead snapped at the phone. "Look, I'm going to ask around to see if anyone's seen Duncan. Once I find him, I'll drive over and we'll switch him and the monkey out."

"Okay, ice queen, we'll keep the parents busy on this end." Derek said, ignoring his older brother's complaints and grunts of pain once the monkey got loose.

"Don't call me ice…" Arts began but Derek already hung up on his end, "…queen." She finished, frowning. Arts put her phone away and breathed in deeply, thinking. "Okay, Arts, think…where would a six year old go to run away?"

The answer came so quickly that Arts could have kicked herself for not thinking about it sooner.

"Well, duh! The toy store!" Arts said, knocking her self on the head. She quickly rushed to the mall's toy store; the first thing she saw was a little girl whining loudly to her mother.

"Honey, we can't take the toy back. We already paid for it."

"But mommy, look! The box has already been opened. Someone's obviously tampered with it. I don't want to play with something that someone else has already played with. It's the stores' fault! They need to watch out for naughty kids who mess with stuff that others want to buy! We should send that Sue woman after them!"

"Courtney, 'sue' isn't a person."

"Then what is it?"

"It's when..oh…oh dear…how can I explain this? Well, let's say that a little fishy wanted to eat a worm that was on a hook that a fisherman cast out, but another fish pushed the little fishy out of the way and ate the worm instead. Then the little fishy got angry at the other fish and hired a bunch of hungry sharks to go after the other fish. Well the sharks fight the other fish, eat him, and then over turn the fishing boat, eat the fishermen, and let the first little fishy have all the worms that fall from the fishing boat. That's what sueing someone is like. Do you understand now, sweetie?"

"…………." The girl blinked, thought for a second, and smiled. "…Can I be the first little fishy?"

"Excuse me." Arts interrupted the rather odd family moment and stood before the mother and daughter. "I'm sorry to bother you two, but I'm looking for…uh…my little brother Duncan. He's six, about your daughter's height, black hair, blue eyes, green hat, black shirt with a skull on it…"

The girl gasped. "That's that eeky frog boy!"

Arts raised an astonished brow. "Eeky frog boy?"

The little girl pulled an expression of disgust. "He acted like a frog and tried to kiss me!"

"It was so cute." The mother cooed.

Art pressed her fist against her mouth to hold back a tinkling laugh. This definitely sounded like Derek's little brother. "Why didn't you let him kiss you?"

The girl stared at Arts as if the older girl was insane. "He was gross like a frog."

Arts knelt down to the little girl's level and smiled at her. "Want to know a little secret between us girls?" When the girl nodded, she continued. "All the good guys start out as frogs, all gross and stupid. But if you give them a chance…well…you just might find your prince inside them. And if you don't, just dump them back into the swamp….or a lake." She grinned evilly. "That worked for me."

The little brunette pondered over Arts words for a couple seconds and then gave the redhead a big smile. "Next time I see him, I'll give him a kiss." She then glared and held up a finger. "Only one! If I don't get a prince, I'm sueing!"

"Good for you." Arts laughed. The fifteen year old stood up and turned to the girl's mother. "So did you see what direction my brother went to?"

"I believe I saw him go into the music store." The mother said.

Arts waved farewell to the mother and daughter and ran over to the music store. To her dismay, she saw that it was closed and locked up. She had to find out if Duncan was still inside there!

"Hold on, kid. I'll be back." Arts promised as she ran off to find the nearest security guard.

_**(Inside the music store…)**_

"There's nothing to be afraid of." Duncan told himself as he stood up; the store looked quite menacing in the dark and silence. He found himself backing up. "It's just a music store. There's nothing scary inside a music store. Nothing at all!"

While backing up in fear, Duncan accidently knocked into the check out counter. A stereo that had been on the counter fell to the ground with a loud crash.

"AHHH!" Duncan yelped and jumped up in terror.

Once the stereo hit the ground, it started to play the CD that been inside it- Celine Dion's new hit single "My Heart Will Go On". Normally, this was a very moving and beautiful song. Unfortunately, the crash to the ground seemed to have messed the stereo up so now the song was coming out oddly strangled and slow. It had an almost creepy tone to it.

"_Innnnn my dreamssssssssss….I ssssseeeee you….I hooooooold youuuuuuu…ssss"_

"MOMMY! DEREK! MALCOLM! DADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDYYYYYY! Duncan wailed and ran as the demonic noises chased after him. Blue eyes wide with terror, Duncan ran to the exit and began to bang his little fist against the metal covering.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE! I HATE THIS SONG!" Duncan yelled at the top of his lungs as the music seemed to get louder.

"_Neeeeearr…..farrrrrrrrrrrr….whereeeeverrrr….yoouu…arreee….__**little boy**__…"_

Duncan screamed at the top of his lungs, tears of fright in his eyes. "HELP! CELINE DION'S AFTER ME!"

His imagination seemed to be running wild at the moment. The music store seemed to be turning darker and more menacing with shadows creeping through every CD stand and counter; the music and lyrics seemed to become creepier and eviler every second.

"_Neeeeverrr…leeettttt….goooo...__**I'm going to get you**__, __**Duncan**__…"_

"NEVER!" Duncan ran away from the door and towards the back of the music store. He could hear banging now along with the lyrics. There was something after him!

"Gotta hide! Gotta hide!" the little delinquent panted. Duncan then spotted a door in the very back of the store. He lunged for it, jumped inside, and slammed the door behind him. He leaned against the door and breathed a sigh of relief.

And then he saw.

Duncan let out a terrified gasp. The entire room was filled with Celine Dion standees! It was a room filled with creepy, glassy-eyes cardboard cutouts, all fixed in horrifically glamorous poses and staring at him.

"_Oooneeee trueeee tiiimme….I hoooldd youuu….__**Come out, come out little boy**__."_

"They're not going to hurt me." Duncan whimpered, backing up with trembling legs.

"_Youuuuu opppeennn theeee dooooor…..__**I'm going to find you.**__"_

The little delinquent squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out everything. "They're not real. They're just cardboard! They're not real!"

"_My hearrrrrtttttt willllll goooooo onnnnnn…."_

Duncan felt a pair of hands grab his shoulder and whirl him around. He found himself staring up at a looming, shadowy woman figure. The evil mistress gave him a dark sneer.

"_**Gotcha."**_

"NOO!"

* * *

"AAAUUGGH!"

_**Slap!**_

"MY HEART WILL **NOT **GO ON! MY HEART WILL **NOT**–"

_**Slap!**_

"NNOOO!"

_**Slap! Slap! Slap!**_

Duncan's eyes snapped open and, to his surprise, he saw that Courtney was peering into his face, one hand raised in mid-slap.

"Are you okay?" For once, her onyx eyes were free of annoyance and her expression was that of deep concern. Behind her, the rest of the campers, minus Geoff and Trent, were staring at him with expressions of shock and terror pasted on their faces. DJ was shaking and looked ready to pass out.

The delinquent pressed a hand to his stinging cheeks. "Yeah, I think so. What happened?" It was Bridgette that answered.

"Well, you got to the part when you went into the closet full of Celine Dion music store standees and then things started to go downhill." The blonde surfer said. "You started screaming and yelling 'My heart will not go on" over and over again."

"Sorry, bad memories." Duncan apologized.

"Dude that was the scariest story I ever heard!" DJ whimpered, shaking and looking faint.

Lindsay was trembling. "BK's right! Ohhh, I feel so sorry for little Duncan! Tell us, Doug, did cute little Duncan survive the evil Celine Dion standee attack?"

"No, she killed me. Isn't it obvious?" Duncan sarcastically answered, rolling his eyes at the dumb blonde.

"Do you feel up to finishing the story?" asked Gwen.

"You don't have to." Courtney added, giving Duncan a sympathetic glance.

Duncan gave her an assuring smirk. "Don't worry, I'm good."

"I'M COMING BUDDY!" Geoff's voice called out. A moment later, a tide of water was splashed on both Duncan and Courtney.

The couple glared as Geoff and Trent walked up, empty water buckets in their hands.

"We brought the water!" Geoff announced, smiling and waving the bucket at the campers. He looked at Duncan. "Are done being crazy yet?"

"Thank you, Geoff." Duncan growled, glaring at his friend. "That was **exactly **what I needed."

"You're welcome!"

Duncan sighed and shook his head like a dog, shaking the water off. When he was done, he turned back to the campers.

"Okay, so now you know why I'm afraid of Celine Dion standees, now let me tell you what happens afterwards…"

* * *

**(At the Scott household…)**

"Derek! Duncan! Malcolm! What on earth are you three doing up there?" their mother screamed from the living room upstairs. For the last hour, she had been hearing screams, thumps, and bangs coming from her son's rooms. Of course, this wasn't quite unusual, but it was becoming very bothersome.

Inside Derek's room, both Derek and Malcolm had overturned the bed to create a protective barrier between them and the raging monkey posing as Duncan.

"Just playing with Duncan, Mom!" Derek screamed. He yelped in pain when the monkey screeched in fury and threw a soccer ball his head.

Malcolm, being a smart one, had put on a motorcycle helmet. "Have you heard back from that ice cream girl?" He winced and ducked when the monkey started to throw his soccer trophies at him.

"Not yet." Derek admitted. Suddenly, there was a sharp tapping noise coming from the window. The three figures stopped what they were doing and glanced over.

Balancing on a tree branch outside the window was a girl.

Derek's face lit up with joy. "ARTS!" He rushed over to open the window. His mouth fell open with surprise the moment she climbed in.

"I found your brother." Arts grumbled and pointed to her head. Clinging to it and shaking like a frightened kitten was Duncan. The poor little six-year old looked scared out of his wits. He was staring off into space with round, terrified eyes, trembling and whimpering out gibbish that almost sounded like, "The Celine Dion standees are after me…they're coming.."

Malcolm looked appalled. "What did you two do to him?" What had happened to the little brother that wasn't scared of anything?

"I don't know!" Arts said, tugging Duncan off her face. His fingernails left red marks where they had been clinging to. "He had somehow got locked inside the music store. I found a security guard that let me go in to look for him. I found him hiding inside a closet full of Celine Dion music store standees. For some reason, he was screaming his head off when I found him."

Derek gently took his little brother and set him on the floor. The poor thing hugged his knees and rocked back and forth an insane manner. Derek knelt down on one knee and spoke gently to him.

"Hey, Dunk, it's me, Derek. I'm sorry for yelling at you and making you run away. There's no reason to be scared anymore. I promise Malcolm and me won't let anything like that ever happen to you again."

Derek placed a hand on his little brother's shoulders. Duncan jerked at his brother's touch, shook his head, blinked and looked up. At the sight of his big brothers, he let out a big smile.

"DEREK! MALCOLM!" The little delinquent wrapped his arms around his two brothers and cried out in relief. "You're really here!"

"Of course we are, Dunk!" Malcolm said, hugging his youngest brother tightly.

"We wouldn't ever leave you." Derek reassured. "Mom and Dad would kill us!"

"Awww, this scene is so touching that I almost wish I had siblings." Arts said, monkey on her shoulder and smiling at the three brothers "…almost."

When the hug was over, Derek pulled away and placed both hands on Duncan's shoulders. His face grew serious. "Okay, Duncan, it's extremely important that Mom and Dad never know what happened tonight. Is there anything we can do to make sure that you never, EVER, speak about this?"

"At least until we're moved out?" Malcolm added.

Duncan thought for a moment and then gave them an evil smirk.

"Anything?"

The two older brothers gave each other nervous glances.

_**(Two hours later…)**_

"WHAT THE **'CENSORED'**!" their father yelled, "WHY ARE YOU PLAYING WITH A GIANT, HAIRY SPIDER?"

"His name's Scruffy, Dad! Isn't he awesome? Derek and Malcolm got me him because he was the only pet left at the petstore! Wanna touch him?"

"MALCOLM! DEREKKKKKKKKKK!"

"Ah, crap…"

* * *

The campers erupted into applaud once the story was done. Duncan good-naturedly stood on the log and pretended to take a bow while Courtney rolled her eyes.

"That was an awesome story." Trent said, "Weird, but still awesome."

"Ahh, you were so cute when you were small!" Bridgette commented, smiling.

Duncan rolled his eyes, but continued smiling. "Yeah, well don't go spreading it around."

Courtney stood up and stretched. "Well, that was entertaining, but I'm still calling it a night. Night everyone." She began to walk back to the cabins, but, to her surprise, she heard a pair of footsteps run after her.

"Need someone to walk with you?" Duncan asked, flashing a cocky grin.

"I'll call you when I need to be pick pocketed." Courtney glared, but allowed him to walk beside her all the same. At the campfire, the rest of the campers smiled to each other as they listened to the other bicker all the way to the cabins.

"So you really liked my story, Princess?"

"It was entertaining, I admit."

"Want to hear it again? We can do a reenactment. I can play myself and you can play the whiny little girl that I try to kiss."

"Not on your life, Duncan!"

"Ribit! Ribit!"

"Put those lips away, you ogre!"

"Hahaha..."

**Hope you guys enjoyed the story! I might actually write more with young Duncan and his older brothers. I'll have some pictures from the story up on my Deviantart account soon if you're interested in seeing what young Duncan looks like.**


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